Description:

The project was produced and directed by faculty Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger with a team of 11 animation artists drawn from the John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts. The animation was designed and animated by current students, recent graduates and faculty. The piece took shape from its inception through a dynamic dialog between the visual artists and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

Produced for the inaugural concert performance in Frank Gehry’s New World Center multi-media concert hall, Miami Beach, Florida. The giant 5-screen immersive space surrounds the audience and the orchestra with 270 degrees of projection. Music and imagery are performed live and in sync. Pictures at an Exhibition was conceived as a collaborative project between the animation program of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the New World Symphony Academy under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

The programmatic work by Mussorgsky (orchestration by Maurice Ravel) was the perfect canvas to apply the talents of the diverse USC-DADA animation program. The project embraced a blending of animation techniques that included CG, digital hand drawn, analog hand drawn, rotoscope, long exposure photography, green screen live action, and practical VFX.